Cyber Extortion Surges
Pini Bothoko | Monday August 17, 2020 16:58
Victim profiling has revealed that those targeted hold senior positions and are married with men identified as those that mostly fall prey to cyber extortion.
The police have therefore warned these segments of society to guard against the emerging crime.
Botswana Police Service (BPS) commissioner, Keabetswe Makgophe put out a warning recently when appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
Makgophe said one of the emerging crimes in Botswana is cyber extortion in which a majority of men have fallen prey to criminals and lost huge sums of money in the process.
“We are starting to experience a lot of cyber-related crimes like eWallet scams and cyber extortion is becoming a very disturbing issue,” the police commissioner told PAC sitting. He added most of the times the victims would prefer the cases not to be prosecuted because the blackmailers are usually women.
Makgophe stated that there is an increasing trend whereby people are taking photos of mostly men in very compromising positions and blackmailing them into exchanging them for money.
“The good thing is that some of the victims are willing to come and share with us their experiences.
To investigate such cases we need evidence to be able to prosecute, but the victims would prefer the cases not to be prosecuted,” he added.
The police chief stated that the perpetrators end up not being punished and are likely to continue with their escapades. Makgophe also told the PAC that child pornography was also becoming a serious issue.
The rise in these forms of crimes has spurred action as BPS has established a small unit at its headquarters to make sure that they pay specific attention to those cases.
“Ne kere ke gakolole batlotlegi, especially people who are occupying senior positions that you are exposed. Please be cautious at all times.
People have lost large sums of money because of cyber extortion. It pains me that I am able to identify suspects, but I am not able to prosecute them,” Makgophe said.
He said another issue is revenge pornography in which intimate partners during their happier times would take pictures of themselves naked only to later use them against each other when relationships go sour.
“In this scenario, when the relationship is no longer working the person that feels rejected would threaten another that he or she would publish those pictures on social media. These are some of the cases that are on the rise,” Makgophe told PAC.
“I would suggest those who are married to stick to their partners because most of the people experiencing this have families and it is very sad.
If it happens that you find yourself in that position be brave enough to report.”
The commissioner added some of the concerns involve insults hurled on social media platforms like Facebook.
“We do not see insults occurring at bars, but [interestingly] on social media. I am pleading with Batswana to avoid abusing social media.
As a result of these new developments we have forced cyber forensics to detect and investigate some of these cases. Some of these cases are in court while some are still under investigation,” Makgophe revealed.